Is the fostering of an urban identity through a city’s past becoming history? An inquiry into the (assumed) contemporary value of built cultural heritage for generating and maintaining distinctive urban identities within the Dutch context
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2013-02
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en
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Abstract
In the light of a number of major societal changes (which are, broadly speaking, placed
under the headings of globalization and post-modernization), it is argued that many
European cities find themselves in the midst of an urban identity crisis. As a result, the
issue of place identity has been receiving an increasing amount of attention amongst
scholars as well as urban policy makers. Within the debate, two major ‘narratives’ on the
role of built urban cultural heritage can be identified. The first and more traditional view
revolves around the idea that urban heritage has not lost (or has even increased) its
ability to function as an effective ‘urban identity generator’, despite the changing
societal context in which it is situated; it is actually because of the way in which today’s
society is and has been changing that cultural heritage is considered a sort of anchor of
growing importance within the quest for unique, distinctive urban identities. The second
discourse, on the other hand, postulates that so-called ‘innovative urban design
schemes’ have (to a certain degree) overtaken the standardized, ‘one-dimensional’ and
therefore within contemporary Europe less meaningful built cultural heritage when it
comes to fostering distinctive urban identities.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen